The present invention relates to a modular automatic power flow fresh air inlet for controlling the velocity, volume, and direction of air entering from a fresh air source to ventilate a room.
Room ventilation is extremely important in the poultry and livestock industries. The livestock and poultry industries need controlled indoor conditions to raise animals effectively. Insufficiently ventilated indoor confinement areas may cause problems with disease due to the spreading and multiplying of viruses and bacteria. Disease may also spread from one animal to another due to stale, stagnant air. Ventilation may improve health and environmental conditions in an animal confinement room. Fresh air inlets maintain proper ventilation by providing fresh air for the animals to breathe and by controlling temperatures, static pressure, and moisture buildup.
An important area of concern in the ventilation of livestock and poultry buildings is the control of velocity, volume, and direction of air entering the building from a fresh air source to change ambient environmental conditions. Temperature, for example, may be controlled by regulating the velocity and volume of air in the building. Seasonal, and even daily, changes in the ambient environmental conditions require adjusting of each air inlet to maintain a consistent room environment. During hot months, a high velocity air stream may be desirable to provide additional cooling to animals contained in the confinement room. In colder months, a draft may make animals more susceptible to disease, making it desirable to reduce the flow of air in the room or redirect the flow of air away from the animals.
A confinement room may also be divided into zones. The ability to control the environmental conditions in a particular zone within a room is extremely important and critical to the success of a livestock or poultry farm or feed-lot operation since different zones may require different air flow characteristics. Various fresh air inlets have been used to allow fresh air to enter into a room from the exterior of a building. These air inlets typically extend from outside the building into the room. Zone control has proven to be difficult and inaccurate with these types of air inlets due to the difficulty of adjustment and coordinated individual control of the air inlets to achieve a desired zone air circulation course. Furthermore, air inlets are not easily grouped into a zone control assembly for air flow control within a large zone. Zone control is accomplished, if at all, by manually adjusting each air inlet to an appropriate desired setting.
Prior automatic power flow fresh air inlets rely extensively on the adjustment of the static air pressure in a room to provide the necessary control over the air inlets. A negative static pressure is created using fans positioned to force the interior stale air within a room to the exterior of a building. The presence of a negative static pressure in a room forces valve plates, positioned within the air inlets, to pivot open, allowing fresh air to enter a room. Decreasing the static pressure within a room thereby increases the air flow. Conversely, increasing the static pressure within a room decreases the air flow within a zone within the interior of a building. When the static air pressure in the room is zero or greater, as determined by an individual, air flow within a room will be minimal.
The reliance on static air pressure control ventilation for a building has several drawbacks. First, adjusting the valve openings of the prior designs is highly inconvenient and time consuming, necessitating that each air inlet be adjusted manually requiring direct access to the air inlet through the use of ladders or other means. Second, in the event of a power failure, the valve plates of the air inlets frequently close, preventing fresh air to flow through the inlets. In this situation, fans which are used to create a negative static pressure within the building fail to function, causing the valves to close, terminating air flow within an environmental zone. Finally, due to the inconvenience of adjusting the valve plates, regular daily adjustments within environmental control may not be implemented to maintain optimal environmental conditions in a room such as temperature as other outdoor environmental conditions change throughout a day.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an automatic power flow fresh air inlet having a convenient means to adjust the air inlets without complete reliance on static pressure conditions in the room.